Urijah Faber “not real happy” about new date but still excited for battle with Renan Barao

UFC bantamweight Urijah Faber has a pretty laid back personality. After all, he’s “The California Kid”. However, just because the former WEC champion tends to go with the flow doesn’t mean he was pleased to hear his fight with Renan Barao had been moved to UFC 149 after headliner Jose Aldo suffered an injury and withdrew from the event.

Faber offered up his reaction to the news in an interview with Sacramento TV station ABC News 10 where his disappointment was obvious, saying, “I’m not real happy about all the changes, but there is nothing I can do to control the situation so I’m just gonna train hard and go fight in Calgary.”

“The worst part about it I had a lot people coming to support me, because I had been promoting the same date for four-plus months, but…I don’t have a choice in it,” he continued, alluding to the pairing’s previous attachment to UFC 148 in Las Vegas. “The other thing is that the fight was gonna be huge. It’s the biggest fight weekend in UFC (history) so I was looking forward to that. We had great people on the card besides from myself, but this next card in Calgary’s gonna be awesome too.”

The 33-year old’s confidence in the show’s potential for entertainment has a lot to do with his scrap with Barao who enters their match-up on an insane 28-fight winning streak. The bout will also be a five-round affair and involve the UFC’s interim bantamweight title as a result of linear champ Dominick Cruz’s knee injury.

“As far as fights go, Barao and myself have the opportunity to be fight of the year. Style-wise we match up really great to make an exciting fight and it’s for a world title. It’s gonna be good,” the 26-5 Faber eagerly admitted. “I definitely like this better (than Cruz). It’s gonna be a fight. It’s gonna be knockdown, drag-out (bout) – it’s gonna be brutal. And that’s what this sport is about.”